HUTCHINSON, Kan. – A 22-year-old man convicted after he led officers on a high-speed chase in a stolen vehicle wanted to withdraw his plea in the case, but that was denied Friday by Judge Tim Chambers.
Benjamin McKinney was then sentenced to a total of two years and five months in prison. Charges included aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, felony flee and elude, theft and misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
He asked for community corrections, telling the judge that he’s already served half of his sentence, but that was denied by the judge who told him that he put a lot of innocent people at risk when he led law enforcement on the chase. He apparently pointed the car at oncoming traffic, thinking that would get law enforcement to back off, but it didn’t.
He apparently entered a plea where other charges including criminal use of a financial card, no driver’s license, as well as some other misdemeanor traffic charges were dropped by the state.
The case starts in June of last year with a stolen vehicle reported to Hutchinson Police. The vehicle was spotted in Haven and that led to a sheriff deputy attempting to make a traffic stop on K-96. McKinney allegedly refused to stop, leading to a chase that went across the eastern part of the county, briefly into Harvey County and ended near Trail West and Worthington Roads after he allegedly drove into a ditch.
The keys were apparently left in the vehicle and there was also a credit card inside that was allegedly used in Wichita, leading to the charge of criminal use of a financial card.
McKinney was on probation for another flee and elude case from 2013 and that didn’t help with sentencing Friday. However, he will get credit for the time he has been in custody of the Reno County Sheriff.